


Trampoline

by yeaka



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Ficlet, Fluff, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 03:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8430355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Jim’s the Midas of fun.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Inspired by and named for [Trampoline by Kero Kero Bonito](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qmwsg2pyEc).
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

The Vulcan Embassy on Earth is distinctly more _Terran_ than any other oh his people’s buildings that Spock’s been inside, but it’s still undeniably a _Vulcan_ establishment, and that means no magazines in the waiting room. His mother insists those are important and has put them in the Terran counterpart on his homeworld. But she couldn’t attend this trip, given that she’s taken up tutoring and several of her students require her help for their final exams at the end of this month, and instead insisted that Sarek take Spock along so they could ‘bond.’

Most of this bonding consists of Sarek attending closed-door meetings at either Starfleet or the embassy. Spock sits in the magazine-less lobby and tries not to show disapproval on his face at the appalling Terran artwork someone has oddly elected to hang on the walls. The paintings depict faces, but they’re so jarringly disjointed that they’re almost upsetting to look at. Spock’s sure some higher-up human admiral must’ve misused their power and forced the atrocities on the otherwise nicely sparse building.

Of course, the paintings can’t alone be the cause of his mild nausea. There’s a faint thumping sound coming from the room two doors down from him, steady and deep within the supposedly-soundproof walls. There’s a Vulcan clerk at the desk across the room, but she never looks at the door where the sound seems to be coming from. Spock guesses it’s another Terran nuisance that’s been inflicted upon her without her approval. 

After precisely three failed attempts to meditate, Spock accepts that such concentration is impossible when this mysterious noise is being inflicted on him. He glances at the clerk, but she’s still fixated on her terminal, and then he slides out of his chair—his father isn’t due back for another twenty minutes, and he should have time to ascertain what this noise is, hopefully put a stop to it, and return in time. 

The offending door has no signs on it, which tells Spock that his entrance is permitted—all of the security-clearance doors have notices on them. For this one, Spock taps the panel next to it, and sure enough, the sleek door slides right open.

Spock spends a good minute staring at what he finds on the other side, then hurriedly steps in and lets the door close behind him before the clerk catches him displaying the unseemly emotion of shock.

A great, circular contraption takes up most of the little room. The brim’s made of metal and the inside is black fabric, which must contain some elements of rubber, as its continually stretching and contracting. A Terran boy resides in the middle, bouncing up and down. 

The springs groan on each bounce. Spock can’t tell if the noise he heard was from the boy’s weight releasing from the center or from the reverberations of the stands against the floor. He doesn’t know what to make of it. The Terran turns towards him in one leap and continues bouncing, forcing Spock’s chin to lift and fall to keep up with the image. The boy has dark yellow hair and bright blue eyes, pink cheeks and round ears. His mouth is open so wide that his cheeks are dimpled—he’s _laughing_.

He calls, “Hi!” and waves one hand over his head in the Terran fashion. “Wanna bounce?”

Spock... doesn’t even know where to start. He opens his mouth, only to close it, needing to rethink his response. Finally, he straightens himself up and introduces, “I am Spock, son of Ambassador Sarek.”

“Jim Kirk,” the Terran returns, still rigorously jumping up and down on the strange device. “My mom’s in talks with your dad, I guess, and a bunch of other aliens. Yours is the most boring embassy, though. I told her she’d have to spruce the place up if she wanted to drag kids here!”

Maybe Spock’s mother would approve of this boy, at least on the issue of distractions in waiting rooms. But Spock’s father would be deeply disappointed in humanity. Choosing not to bring up their parents at all, Spock p finally asks, “What are you _doing_?”

“Bouncing!” Jim laughs, like it’s obvious, which it apparently is. But Spock was hoping for a little more in the way of explanations. 

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun! I kept pestering Mom to make a kid’s room, but I can’t believe she actually agreed! I think she thought this would burn out my energy, but joke’s on her—it just gives me more!”

This is more than Spock can take, and the only response he has left is, “Most illogical.”

Jim laughs again. The sound is bubbly and bizarrely pleasant. Usually, Spock finds Terran laughter grating. He tries not to make the sound himself. But Jim looks like an altogether pleasant _person_ , and he smiles warmly at Spock when he says, “That’s because you’re on the ground. Come join me!” He holds out his hand, even though the device keeps him far above the floor, and Spock has no hope of reaching it.

The right thing to do, of course, would be to deny such a wild invitation. This ‘bouncing’ looks ridiculous—Jim’s mother must be very powerful in Starfleet to have convinced the Vulcans to let such a device into their embassy. Spock can’t imagine the staff ever uses it. The thought of the strict clerk in the lobby jumping up and down in this room is...

Well, it would make Jim laugh. 

And Spock should be the same. He should be too controlled for such nonsense. Normally, he would turn away and retreat back to the waiting room, where he would sit and meditate like a proper Vulcan child. 

...But Jim makes it not so normal. Because Jim keeps smiling, keeps holding out his hand, and even though Spock knows Terrans are capable of deceit, he’s never seen anyone look so sincere. Jim genuinely wants Spock to share this with him. And that’s not something Spock’s used to from other kids—this might be the first time he’s been willingly invited anywhere by his own peers. 

Jim’s friendliness is disarming. He makes it worse by calling, “C’mon, Spock, get up here!” Spock feels compelled to listen. 

He glances at the door just in case. It’s securely shut. Theoretically, he could join Jim for a few minutes and still return to the waiting room before his father, and no one would ever have to know. 

He takes two steps forward, only for Jim to say, “Take off your shoes, silly!” And Spock, wrinkling his nose and flushing across his cheeks, bends to comply. When they’re both off and neatly laid aside, Spock puts both arms atop the circle, the edge of which is covered in a thick wrapping, and Jim stops jumping to come and take his hands. Spock could’ve easily climbed on himself—it would’ve been awkward, but nothing compared to the mountains on Vulcan—but Jim’s help isn’t entirely unappreciated. It’s another thing Spock isn’t used to from kids his own age. The contact gives Spock a subtle spark that he knows comes from his telepathic powers, something he’s still learning to control, but it’s not an unpleasant sensation—all he gets from Jim is more warmth and openness.

Jim keeps hold of Spock’s elbows and helps him to his feet afterwards—the ‘floor’ of the device is thin and springy, altogether unsteady. Then Jim bends his knees and kicks up, the floor moving with him, and Spock falls over with a little ‘oomph’ and an embarrassed blush. Jim just laughs, even though the fall took him down too, and he landed at Spock’s side. He ricochets up higher than Spock and helps pull Spock up again, gets them both standing, and says, “You gotta jump too.”

Spock says, “Okay,” but isn’t entirely comfortable with how. He watches Jim again, this time following a split-second later, going up and coming down, and the device sends them back up again—Spock’s breath catches, Jim’s touch retreating down his sleeves from his elbow to bare hands. The connection grows, the contact rushing Jim’s amusement into him, but Spock doesn’t pull away—he’s bouncing again. One jump after another, Jim guides him up, and they land, and they do it again, and the effect is somewhat dizzying but thoroughly...

It is _fun_. Jim asks, “Like it?”

And Spock says, “It is stimulating my endorphin levels,” but he knows what that means, and Jim laughs like he knows it too, or maybe he just thinks Spock’s as weird as all the other boys do. They just think it for different reasons. Through their hands and the clearness of Jim’s eyes, Spock can see that Jim isn’t laughing _at_ him.

The contraption is... _exhilarating._ The more they go up, the more Spock gets into the rhythm, and Jim starts to turn them slightly, so they’re bouncing in a circle, faster and faster, and Spock trips once, but Jim totters in place and pulls him back up, and they start again. He can see why Jim would laugh. He could _almost_ laugh. Jim’s so _easy_ to bounce with, and then he suddenly sticks out his tongue and crosses his eyes for absolutely no apparent reason, and Spock snorts in spite of himself. 

The door slides abruptly open. Spock, facing it, loses his footing and topples down again, this time jarred enough that Jim can’t save himself—Jim lands on top of him, quickly bouncing off. Even though neither jump up again, the device rides a few more ripples, rebounding shallowly out. Spock’s father stands in the doorway, face torturously expressionless. 

As soon as Spock gets his bearings, he scrambles off the device. He resists the urge to rush for his shoes and instead stands stiffly before his father. He’s ashamed of it, but in the back of his mind, he wishes his mother were here. Maybe if she’d put magazines in the waiting room, this never would’ve happened.

Sarek asks dryly, “Spock, what are you doing?”

Spock says, “Conducting an aerodynamic study of gravity.” He’s internally grateful when Jim doesn’t laugh in the background. The statement can’t be proven false but is definitely a ‘stretch’ of the truth, as his mother would say, and he’s not proud of that. 

Sarek continues to stare at Spock for a painful two minutes. Then he turns and retreats through the automatic door, the implication that Spock must follow heavy in the air.

Spock rushes into his shoes. He’s right at the door when the reluctance hits him, and he turns back to give Jim a guilty look. Jim smiles, this time a little sadly, and waves.

Spock turns green again and hurries off.


End file.
